Power-driven hand-held polishing and cleaning device



Dec. 27, 1966 H. D. SOUTH 3,293,678

POWER-DRIVEN HAND-HELD POLISHING AND CLEANING DEVICE Filed Oct. 19, 1964 INVENTOR. HOWARD D. SOUTH ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,293,678 POWER-DRIVEN HAND-HELD POLISHING AND CLEANING DEVICE Howard D. South, 18209 Marilla St., Northridge, Calif. 91324 Filed Oct. 19, 1964, Ser. No. 404,876 1 Claim. (Cl. 1529) Heretofore, glass Windshields and Windows of auto-' mobiles have been cleaned and polished by hand. This operation, when conducted at an automobile service station, has been time consuming and more often than not, the Windshields are left with smears and streaks.

In addition, it is difiicult for a service station attendant to clean and polish the side and rear windows of an automobile in a time sufiiciently short to make the job practical.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and novel hand-held device for the purpose of polishing a surface of relatively small area.

Another object of this invention is to provide a unitary hand-held device containing a liquid dispenser and a power-operated bufier or polisher so as to substantially reduce the time required for polishing a surface, such as glass.

Still a further object of this invention is to provide an integral hand-held battery-powered polisher unit containing a liquid dispenser, suitable for cleaning and polishing the windshield and other windows of an automobile.

Some of the objects of the invention having been stated, other objects andfeatures will become apparent from the following detailed description when read in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. lis a cross-section side view taken along lines 1-1 of FIG. 2, of the polishing device;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the device shown in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an alternate portion of the device shownin FIG. 1.

Referring more specifically to the drawings, FIG. 1 shows the device as a whole including the outer casing forming an integral housing for the polishing device. The housing may be made of any suitable material such as plastic, aluminum or die-cast metal. The inner wall 12 of housing 10 defines a liquid container 14 in the form of an annular space defined by the inner wall 12 and outer casing 10 of the integral housing.

The liquid container need not be defined by the integral housing but may be a separate container inserted to fit within the housing 10.

An inlet passageway 16 in the form of a threaded aperture is provided in the housing 10 through which the liquid container 14 is filled with liquid. Cap 18 is threadably engaged with housing 10 in order to close passageway 16.

Contained within housing 10 is a small electric motor 20 powered by a battery 22. Motor 20 engages a suitable gearing arrangement 24 for transmiting motion to shaft 26 upon which is mounted a buffer wheel 28. Buffer wheel 28 disposed adjacent the bottom wall of housing 10, is attached to shaft 26 by a centrally-positioned collar 30 fixedly attached to a central opening in Wheel 28. Collar 30 has a central aperture adapted to receive the end of shaft 26 to which the collar is detachably secured by a set screw 32. Buffer wheel 28 comprises a base 29 "ice of circular form with a substantially flat lower side which is provided with a polishing surface 34. The polishing surface 34 may be in the form of a pad or layer of any suitable material useful for polishing, such as a Wool cloth, cut-pile Wool, a fibrous material, or paper toweling, either permanently or removably attached to the lower side of base 29, or base 29 itself may be adapted for polishing. The polishing surface 34 of buffing wheel base 29 constitutes the working surface of the polishing device.

Motor 20 is connected by lead wires 36 to electrical switch 38 extending through the top wall of housing 10, which is operated to turn the motor on and off.

A manually operated plunger 40 is disposed within the liquid chamber 14, and extends through the top wall of housing 10, in order to eject liquid through the valve portion 42 of plunger 40. A one-way valve (not shown) allows liquid to enter plunger 40 when the plunger head 44 is raised by a.spring (not shown). Depression of plunger head 44 opens valve 42 and squirts liquid out of the plunger 40.

A top portion 46 in the form of a substantially flat plate is fixedly attached to the housing 10 in order to close the upper portion thereof. Top portion 46 is provided with a threaded aperture through which cap 18 is also threadably attached as well as being attached to housing 10 as set forth previously. Screws 48 fixedly attach top 46 to housing 10. Top portion 46 is readily removable to provide easy access to the working components of the device.

Fastened to the upper portion of top 46 is a hand strap 50 positioned so that the operators hand may pass under the strap, so that he may hold the polisher device and operate the plunger 40 and switch 38 with his fingers.

A battery recharger (not shown) with electrical socket 52 provided in the top 46 near the rechargeable battery 22 may be incorporated in housing 10 so that if desired the battery may be recharged by the insertion of a normal A.C. current outlet.

A flexible skirt 54 depends from the bottom wall of housing 10. The skirt 54 is in a circular form and surrounds buffer wheel 28 to protect objects on the surface being polished from being struck by the spinning buffer wheel. The skirt 54 may be made of any flexible material such as rubber.

A scraper 56 in the form of a flat plate is fixedly attached to the lower front edge of housing 10. The scraper 56 is tapered to a point 58 and by tilting the polisher device forward, the scraper may be used to loosen tightly held dirt or grime or, for an example, bugs from the windshield of an automobile,

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the polisher device shown in FIG. 1 showing unitary housing 10 and top 46. Plunger head 44 and electrical switch 38 are shown protruding through housing 10. Cap 18 and electrical outlet 52 are shown in the rear portion of the polisher device protruding through the top 46.

Screws 48, fixedly attaching top 46 to the housing 10 are shown at the rearmost portion of top 46.

Scraper 56 is shown disposed adjacent the front of the housing 10.

Hand strap 50 is disposed across the top of the polisher device. As shown, the strap comprises a. solid width of material, such as leather, for example. The strap, however, may comprise several narrow straps and may be made of any suitable material such as plastic, cloth webbing, etc.

If desired, instead of a hand strap, the polisher device may be held by a handle which is made as a part of the top portion 46, curving above the center of the polisher device at a distance sufficient to be gripped and held in the operators hand.

FIG. 3 shows an alternate cap for the liquid chamber 14 in the form of an air valve pressure cap 60. Where a source of air pressure is readily available, such as in an automobile service station, the air valve pressure cap is used in place of cap 18. The liquid chamber may then be placed under air pressure and p-lunger 40 replaced by a simple needle valve device so that depression of the head of the needle valve allows the air pressure to forcibly spray liquid out of the end of the valve.

The valve 60 consists of a nozzle 62, for receiving the air pressure hose, and needle valve 64, only the upper portion of which is shown, for transmitting the air under pressure to the liquid chamber,

The air valve pressure cap 60 has a threaded lower portion 66 for threaded attachment to the top 46 and housing as shown in FIG. 1 for cap 18.

When the polishing device of the present invention is to be used, the operator slips his hand underneath the hand strap to hold the polisher device and presses on the plunger to squirt liquid onto the surface to be polished. The device may be tilted forward to scrape loose any material which is stuck to the surface. The electrical switch is then flipped by the operators finger and the polishing wheel rotates and is pressed against the surface to be polished by the operator.

The speed of the polishing wheel is not critical, however, it has been found that a speed of about 1800 to about 2200 R.P.M. is prefered. Higher speeds may be employed as well as lower speeds, however, if the speed is too low,

good polishing is difiicult to obtain.

The liquid employed in the liquid container is not critical and for most purposes, such as automobile Windshields, water is satisfactory. Other cleaning liquids may also be used in this device if desired, or if a special purpose or result is desired.

Obviously, changes in the arrangement, size or proportion of the parts may be made within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having fully described the invention, it is desired that the invention be limited only by the lawful scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

A power-driven hand-held polishing and cleaning device comprising:

a fluid-tight outer casing adapted to be held in the hand;

a fluid-tight inner casing within said outer casing and spaced therefrom, said outer and inner casings defining a fluid-tight liquid containing cavity therebetween;

a scalable inlet in said outer casing for filling said cavity an air inlet including a pressure valve through said outer casing for introducing air under pressure into said cavity;

an electrically driven motor mounted in said inner casing;

a rechargeable storage battery mounted in said inner casing;

a battery recharger electrically connected with said battery and having electrical contact means accessible through said outer casing for connecting said recharger to an external source of electrical current;

an electrical circuit connecting said battery and said motor, said circuit containing and electrical switch positioned on the outside of said outer casing;

a drive shaft journalled by fluid-tight means through said inner and outer casings for rotary movement only and adapted to be driven by said motor, one end of said shaft extending outwardly of said outer casa buffer wheel having a substantially flat lower surface;

connecting means for drivably connecting said buffer wheel to the outwardly extending end of said shaft; a flexible skirt mounted on said outer casing and surrounding said bufiFer wheel;

needle valve means having a spray-producing orifice positioned outside of said outer casing and directed to spray liquid adjacent said buffer wheel, said valve means being in fluid communication with said cavity; and

valve operating means operatively connected to said needle valve and actuated by valve actuating means positioned on the outside of said outer casing.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,262,316 4/1918 Farnsworth 15-24 X 1,456,910 5/1923 Rapisardi 15-552 1,682,216 8/1928 Dellaree et a1 15-28 X 2,011,413 8/1935 Metz 15-111 X 2,443,001 6/1948 Frendo 15-28 2,740,977 4/ 1956 Allen 15-24 2,772,430 12/1956 Moritt 15-111 X 2,790,190 4/ 1957 Mastrandrea 16-553 2,792,584 5/1957 Fryda 15-236 3,065,477 11/ 1962 McKechnie 15-29 3,084,369 4/ 1963 Hawkins 15-236 3,177,510 4/1965 Mack 15-29 3,195,537 7/1965 Blasi 15-29 X CHARLES A. WILLMUTH, Primary Examiner. E. L. ROBERTS, Assistant Examiner. 

